HIV Aids - Repugnicans and Science

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Repugnicans and Science

GMCarter

2005-10-15, 5:55 pm

Speaking of interesting books, this looks like a good one. If
depressing.

Just a firm basis for getting RID of the vile repugnican scum that
destroy our democracy, increase suffering and death on a global scale
and in general seem hell-bent on turning our planet to rubble to sate
the black hole of greed that is a the core of their vile souls. Heh!
Look at that. I made a quasi-religious reference. Maybe I should hit
them up for some faith-based funding....where's my voodoo dolls n
pins?
George M. Carter

**
Science, Vol 310, Issue 5745, 56 , 7 October 2005
SCIENCE AND POLITICS:

Anti-Realism in Government
Naomi Oreskes*

The Republican War on Science
by Chris Mooney
Basic Books, New York, 2005. 338 pp. $24.95, C$32.95. ISBN
0-465-04675-4.

In the mid-1990s, a group of scientists led by Paul Gross and Norman
Levitt made a grand fuss about attacks on science from the "academic
left." Most of these attacks originated in France and were linked to
the philosophical question of how well human-constructed theories can
map onto human-independent reality, an academic anxiety if ever there
was one. But while Gross and his friends engaged in academic
internecine warfare over postmodernist theory, a far more serious
attack on science was building on the political right here in the
United States, with serious consequences beyond the walls of academe.
This attack is the subject of journalist Chris Mooney's The Republican
War on Science.

As Mooney recounts, for two decades, influential
Republicans--initially in Congress and now also in the White House--in
concert with determined allies in private industry and fundamentalist
Christian organizations, have systematically denied, disparaged, and
misrepresented scientific information on topics relevant to public
policy. The list is long: acid rain, global warming, the efficacy of
condoms in preventing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, the
health impacts of excess dietary sugar and fat, the alleged link
between abortion and breast cancer, the status of endangered species,
the efficacy of abstinence-only sex education programs, the
therapeutic potential of adult stem cells, and more.

On these issues, a strange-bedfellows alliance has sought to mislead
both the voting public and elected representatives about the
scientific facts: misrepresenting real debates, exaggerating
uncertainty, interfering with the activities of expert agencies,
trumpeting the views of outlier scientists whose interpretations are
rarely to be found in the refereed literature, and attacking the
integrity of genuine experts (1). In frighteningly Orwellian fashion,
these actions are carried out in the name of "sound science."

Much of this will be familiar to those who read the 2003 report
prepared for California Congressman Henry Waxman, "Politics and
Science in the Bush Administration" (2), or the 2004 report of the
Union of Concerned Scientists, "Scientific Integrity in Policy-making:
An Investigation into the Bush Administration's Misuse of Science"
(3). But Mooney goes further, documenting the roots of these abuses in
the Reagan administration and the Congress of Newt Gingrich.
Historically, Republicans have often been more sympathetic to
scientific elites than populist-oriented Democrats, but the animus
growing over the past 20 years has culminated in the present
administration, which, being unable to control science, seems
determined to undermine it.

Mooney points out that in many cases, the same groups and individuals
have been involved in multiple misinformation campaigns. Consider
global warming and ozone depletion. Two leading deniers of the reality
or severity of anthropogenic global warming--S. Fred Singer and Sallie
Baliunas--previously vociferously denied the link between
chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and depletion of stratospheric ozone.
Although his views lie well outside the mainstream of expert
scientific opinion and it has been a long time since he regularly
published in the refereed literature, Singer has been repeatedly
invited to testify in Congress. Both he and Baliunas have links to the
George C. Marshall Institute, founded in 1984 to defend Ronald
Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative against the majority opinion of
expert physicists that it was ill-conceived. Since then, the institute
has claimed to support "sound science" in public policy while
promoting positions that run against the mainstream of scientific
opinion but are consistent with an uncompromisingly anti-regulatory
ideology. In recent years, it has received funding from ExxonMobil,
presumably not coincidentally linked to its efforts to deny global
warming (4). The plot thickens further. One of the institute's
founders and its current chairman of the board, Robert Jastrow, has
written books promoting intelligent design (5-7). Frederick Seitz, its
chair emeritus, is well known in the scientific community as a past
president of the National Academy of Sciences. Less well known is his
role in the 1980s as a principal adviser to the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco
Company in its support of biomedical research that might cast doubt on
the links between tobacco and cancer (8).

How are denials of global warming, the impact of CFCs on stratospheric
ozone, and the link between tobacco and cancer; support of missile
defense; and advocacy of creationism related? On the face of it,
scarcely. But they all involve the promotion of a right-wing political
agenda, and they all involve grotesque misrepresentations of
scientific evidence. "Doubt is our product" was the slogan of an
internal memorandum from the Brown and Williamson Corporation as it
set out to deny the scientific evidence linking smoking to cancer well
after the epidemiological evidence was clear, and the same strategy
underlines anti-scientific campaigns today (9, 10). The connections
Mooney discusses are crucial, because they provide proof that these
actions are politically and economically motivated, rather than based
on principled scientific worries. The same people are repeatedly
involved in the same obfuscations.

Scientists have traditionally been loath to foray into politics for
fear of politicizing science, but Mooney's book makes it clear that
when sensible people stand on the sidelines, a great deal of nonsense
can be spread. Scientists and scientific societies have tried in
recent years to correct misrepresentations and clarify
misunderstandings, but the efforts have been too few and far between.
Those who would attack science for political gain are organized,
persistent, and well-financed. The Republican War on Science makes
clear that scientists need to do more to present their knowledge to
the rest of society, because there is no shortage of people willing to
misrepresent it.

References and Notes
1. To these activities documented by Mooney, add the harassment of
researchers by punitive demands for documentation of work already
published in peer-reviewed journals. See Donald Kennedy's Editorial,
Science 309, 1301 (26 August 2005).
2.
http://democrats.reform.house.gov/f...science_rep.pdf
..
3.
www.ucsusa.org/scientific_integrity...cy-making.html.
4. ExxonMobil's contributions to the Marshall Institute are documented
in their annual reports. See
www.exxonsecrets.org/html/orgfactsheet.php?id=36 or
www.environmentaldefense.org/articl...FTOKEN=29888831
..
5. R. Jastrow, God and the Astronomers (Norton, New York, 1978).
6. R. Jastrow, The Enchanted Loom: The Mind in the Universe (Simon and
Schuster, New York, 1981).
7. www.godandscience.org/love/sld014.html .
8. S. A. Glantz, J. Slade, L. A. Bero, P. Hanauer, D. E. Barnes, Eds.,
The Cigarette Papers (Univ. California Press, Berkeley, CA, 1996).
9. D. Michaels, Sci. Am. 292, 96 (June 2005).
10. On the misrepresentation of science in legal and regulatory
settings, see also Am. J. Public Health (Suppl.) 95, S1-S150 (2005).

10.1126/science.1115765

pauleewhiting

2005-10-15, 5:55 pm

George!

Stop *stealing* my material!

*I* was going to start quoting The Republican War on Science!

You beat me to the punch! You bastard!

*GOD* I love you!

Yours truly,

-Paulee

GMCarter

2005-10-16, 12:49 am

On Sat, 15 Oct 2005 18:29:52 -0400, "pauleewhiting"
<pauleewhiting@nospam.hotmail.com> wrote:

....
>*GOD* I love you!

<smooch>

pauleewhiting

2005-10-16, 12:49 am

>*GOD* I love you!

<smooch>

<blushes demurely...>

Death

2005-10-16, 12:49 am

"GMCarter" <fiar@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:en33l1t139fqruv6grhimv997j0lvno9mm@4ax.com...
> On Sat, 15 Oct 2005 18:29:52 -0400, "pauleewhiting"
> <pauleewhiting@nospam.hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> ...
>
> <smooch>
>
LOL, now you think you are God?

pauleewhiting

2005-10-16, 12:49 am

"LOL, now you think you are God?"

I don't just *think* I'm God... :-)

-Paulee

Death

2005-10-16, 12:49 am

"pauleewhiting" <pauleewhiting@nospam.hotmail.com> wrote
>
> I don't just *think* I'm God... :-)
>
Kewl, but I was asking carter the kunt ( . ) ( . )

GMCarter

2005-10-16, 10:49 am

On Sat, 15 Oct 2005 22:13:00 -0500, "Death" <Death@yourdoor.net>
wrote:

>
>"pauleewhiting" <pauleewhiting@nospam.hotmail.com> wrote
>Kewl, but I was asking carter the kunt ( . ) ( . )

LOL. Darling bigot, why don't you go get it on with the one you love
the most and only forever and go XXXX yourself.

Brian Mailman

2005-10-16, 12:49 pm

GMCarter wrote:

> On Sat, 15 Oct 2005 22:13:00 -0500, "Death" <Death@yourdoor.net>
> wrote:

>
> LOL. Darling bigot, why don't you go get it on with the one you love
> the most

That would be his brother, if you haven't gotten it by now.

B/

Death

2005-10-18, 12:49 am

"GMCarter" <fiar@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:5hc4l1hjli2uiieqhpta49sps6hnbe02fh@4ax.com...
> On Sat, 15 Oct 2005 22:13:00 -0500, "Death" <Death@yourdoor.net>
> wrote:
>
>
> LOL. Darling bigot, why don't you go get it on with the one you love
> the most and only forever and go XXXX yourself.
>
>

Death

2005-10-18, 12:49 am

Death

2005-10-18, 12:49 am

"Brian Mailman" <bmailman@sfo.invalid> wrote in message
>
> That would be his brother, if you haven't gotten it by now.
>
gee, you aren't whining for someone to prove something?
There ya go, there are still miracles happening even in this era.

Brian Mailman

2005-10-18, 12:50 am

Death wrote:

> "GMCarter" <fiar@verizon.net> wrote in message
> news:5hc4l1hjli2uiieqhpta49sps6hnbe02fh@4ax.com...
[vbcol=seagreen]
> What, sex with a man, out of the question.
> I'll leave that faggot shit to you perverts.

Say, did you ever get those Tejano cowboys you were pining after in
alt.binaries.erotica.pictures.bears?

B/

Brian Mailman

2005-10-18, 12:50 am

Death wrote:

> "Brian Mailman" <bmailman@sfo.invalid> wrote in message
> gee, you aren't whining for someone to prove something?
> There ya go, there are still miracles happening even in this era.

There's only one VERY obvious reason why you keep whining about him
throughout the years but can't just let him go.

B/

Death

2005-10-20, 5:53 pm

"Brian Mailman" <bmailman@sfo.invalid> wrote in message

> Say, did you ever get those Tejano cowboys you were pining after in
> alt.binaries.erotica.pictures.bears?

Once again, I have no clue what you are whining about.

Brian Mailman

2005-10-20, 5:53 pm

In-Reply-To: <BVe5f.85534$5l.76073@bignews6.bellsouth.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-Complaints-To: abuse@supernews.com
Lines: 14
Xref: newsfeed-west.nntpserver.com misc.health.aids:60384

Death wrote:

> "Brian Mailman" <bmailman@sfo.invalid> wrote in message
>
>
> Once again, I have no clue what you are whining about.

LOL.... of course you do, which is why you took the time to answer.
You've posted several times over the past year about your fascination
with Latino men.

B/

Death

2005-10-20, 5:53 pm

"Brian Mailman" <bmailman@sfo.invalid> wrote in message
news:11lb4pki44q2731@news.supernews.com...
> Death wrote:
>
>
> LOL.... of course you do, which is why you took the time to answer.

I took the time to remind you that you are full of shit

> You've posted several times over the past year about your fascination
> with Latino men.
>
Not even once. Bullshit and lies, the story of your life, how laughable.

Death

2005-10-20, 5:53 pm

"Brian Mailman" <bmailman@sfo.invalid> wrote in message

> Death wrote:
>
>
> Lucky for you, google doesn't archive the porn groups, huh?
>
That is one evasion tactic I suppose.

You could always cut and paste the x trace
in a latin porn group to prove it matches my
message ID number.

What am I thinking, if you could do that you would
have already done so, LOL.

Stick with bullshitting strangers into thinking you are disease free.
Here you are just a clown for my amusement.

Brian Mailman

2005-10-20, 5:53 pm

Death wrote:

> "Brian Mailman" <bmailman@sfo.invalid> wrote in message
>
> That is one evasion tactic I suppose.
>
> You could always cut and paste the x trace
> in a latin porn group to prove it matches my
> message ID number.
>
> What am I thinking, if you could do that you would
> have already done so, LOL.

If you were worth the time and energy.... what latin porn groups are you
posting in?

> Stick with bullshitting strangers into thinking you are disease free.
> Here you are just a clown for my amusement.

Having delusions of adequacy again, Diablo?

B/

>
>

Death

2005-10-20, 5:53 pm

"Brian Mailman" <bmailman@sfo.invalid> wrote in message

>
> If you were worth the time and energy.... what latin porn groups are you
> posting in?
>

The one you lied about and claimed I posted in for the past year,
come on Carter, can't you do better?

Brian Mailman

2005-10-24, 12:55 am

Death wrote:

> "Brian Mailman" <bmailman@sfo.invalid> wrote in message
>
>
> The one you lied about and claimed I posted in for the past year,
> come on Carter, can't you do better?

You'd be well-advised to make sure your pharmacy is giving you the right
meds, or check with your doc to see if they need adjusting.

You're kooking out like you did before you went on them.

B/